The Influence of Informality in a Local Agri-food Supply Chain in Brazil

During qualitative research on trust, conducted in a mariculture chain in southern Brazil, the theme of informality emerged spontaneously in most interviews. Although it is difficult to measure, some data and estimates point out that informality is still quite present worldwide, but especially in emerging and developing countries, and this situation was confirmed in the studied supply chain. In analysing the narratives, we noticed that this is a chronic issue which bothers the producers that are properly formalised mainly because of unfair competition, and hinders the organisation of the chain. Some factors foster the persistence of informality, such as family labour and temporary jobs, the low educational level of entrepreneurs, lack of adequate supervision and cultural aspects of producers and their families. We could corroborate the perspectives of modernisation (informality is still persistent), neo-liberal (informal entrepreneurs reject the bureaucracy of an over-regulated market) and post-structuralist (informality is a way of life related to identity, social position and/or resistance against the formal structure) theories. Our research has shown us that the situation found is contributing to a reduction in the number of formal producers and impairing the development of that local supply chain, as well as its sustainability.